Sikkim planning to sue West Bengal for 60,000 crore

In a move that could create history, the Sikkim state government is planning to sue West Bengal government for around Rs 60,000 crore over losses resulting from protests and violence in the neighboring state related to the demand for a separate Gorkhaland. Sikkim government has already made an assessment of the losses and as per its estimates the losses are around Rs 60,000 crore over the past 32 years. The agitations and protests related to the demand of separate Gorkhaland has resulted in such massive losses, claims Sikkim government. Sikkim is already in the midst of a crisis related to the standoff between India and China over the border issue and this new clash of interests with West Bengal adds a new dimension to the troubles of Sikkim and its people.

Sikkim’s Chief Minister Pawan Chamling has expressed his dismay over the plight of Sikkim by saying, “The people of Sikkim did not merge the state with the Indian union to become a sandwich between China and Bengal.” Sikkim has suffered more losses in the last two days, as vehicles from Sikkim were attacked after Chamling wrote a letter to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, in which, it was stated that the demand for a separate Gorkhaland was a “justified long-pending demand” of the people of the Darjeeling hills. Chamling also claims that such conflicts in the neighboring state have affected the state’s economic development in the last 3 decades.